AFTER The Killing made a killing, Borgen is the latest Danish import to grip TV viewers.

The political drama full of backroom deals and high-pressure negotiation has won a devoted following, despite the subtitles.

And the series, starring Sidse Babett Knudsen as Denmark’s first female Prime Minister, Birgitte Nyborg, has proved more than just fiction in Denmark, where reality has imitated art.

Since the series was shown in its parent country, Denmark has elected its first female Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

But Sidse, 43, is not claiming any influence for her victory.

She said: “I get asked that by Danish journalists a lot and I have had people saying to me, ‘well, that’s your fault, isn’t it?’

“I honestly don’t think so. She was a very big candidate before we started the series.

“Maybe it has influenced things in that people are more familiar with the idea of a female Prime Minister but I don’t think it would change peoples’ minds as far as votes are concerned.

“There were polls around the election, however, when people were asked who they would vote for and I got quite a few votes there.

“If I had been real she may have been in trouble.”

Joking apart, the parallels are easy to draw. Thorning-Schmidt, who is the daughter-in-law of Neil and Glenys Kinnock and a mother of two, fronts a centre-left coalition.

In Borgen, which means The Castle in English and is the nickname of Denmark’s parliamentary building, the populist Birgitte Nyborg fronts a coalition government.

She’s married with two children and, so far, is managing the pressures of office, alongside her family life.

Although just being shown here on BBC4, the show has run to two series in Denmark and a third has already been commissioned.

Sidse revealed starring in the show has been an education for her.

She said: “I’m not political so I had to take a sort of political workshop before we started, just to get to grips with the whole system.

“I had to see charts on all the different meetings and who was involved and things like that.

“So I was in school. There is a lot of research around the topics we are dealing with, a lot of reading, so it has been educating for me. I’m definitely more interested in politics now.”

Borgen is from the same network, DR, which made The Killing.

The crime drama, which centres on another strong female character, detective Sara Lund (Sofie GråbØl), proved a huge success in the UK, as did The Killing II.

Sidse is amazed Borgen has enjoyed similar success, especially as she wasn’t sure that it would even take off in Denmark.

She said: “I was really impressed when The Killing got such a huge press – we all thought, wow, how did that happen?

“I never thought it would happen with Borgen because it is about politics and there is so much dialogue.

“It is so Danish. I am in shock and I am surprised – very, very surprised.

“Even for Denmark, the expectations were not high. They were certainly lower than The Killing because we couldn’t be sure many people would be interested in politics.”

Both Sidse and the show have picked up awards and she would love to come to the UK, but will be tied up for the next year filming the third series.

And like The Killing, Borgen has been earmarked for an American remake.

Last September NBC announced plans to produce a US version.

Sidse has mixed feelings. She said: “I would prefer if they showed the original programme of course.

“To me it is a bit funny because they have The West Wing, which is so iconic and fantastic.

“I know they have done the remake of The Killing and have heard people say it’s different but very good.”

Borgen and The Killing stand out as exceptional TV programmes and, with a similar sized population and no shortage of crime or political intrigue, many have questioned why dramas of the same quality are not produced in Scotland.

Sidse, however, cautions against comparison, as Borgen and The Killing are amongst the best on Danish TV.

She said: “They both stand out as exceptional programmes.

“I’d say the broadcaster DR’s Sunday night TV dramas all go very well with the Danish public and all the other TV stations are quite jealous.

“But the quality is rising because the interest in TV is rising.”

Sidse doesn’t watch much TV but, like a true politician, says she is aware of one of Scotland’s most successful exports, Taggart.

She said: “Taggart is big here... but I am a terrible person to ask because I don’t watch TV – I just wait for the box-sets.”

? Borgen Season One DVD box-set is released next Monday on Arrow Films’ Nordic Noir label.

Borgen's Holyrood admirers

By Mark Aitken

Real-life politicians in Scotland are big fans of their Danish fictional counterparts on Borgen.

But they decline to say how much the BBC4 drama’s backroom deals, spin doctors’ skulduggery and ­strong-arm negotiations mirror day-to-day business in Holyrood.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon loves the show and yesterday said it might be even better than White House drama The West Wing, which is often hailed as the best small-screen political drama ever.

She said: “I’m a huge fan of Borgen. This is one of the most credible fictional accounts of the corridors of power and life in politics that I’ve seen on television, and it’s from a woman’s perspective too, which is rare.”